


Becoming

by Wendi



Series: Sanctuary [1]
Category: DCU Animated, Smallville
Genre: Alternate Timeline, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-06
Updated: 2009-12-06
Packaged: 2017-10-04 05:13:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wendi/pseuds/Wendi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part 1 of the <i>Sanctuary</i> series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Becoming

**Author's Note:**

> Teen Wally inspiration from LaT's Rushing Headlong, production graciously suffered through by the fantabulous beta, Hope. American Idol references are blamed on Hope, Andy and LaT who watch that nonsense. I have not been hooked. *mwuahahahaha*

**WeirdWatcher**: And that's when I realized this green rock from space has totally turned this town into a vortex of what seems like a collection of rejected Sci-Fi channel movie plots.

**FastNFun**: Sounds like you have a new freak every week around there.

**WeirdWatcher**: Sometimes, it feels that way. It's just so frustrating. They always disappear or get killed or are spirited away to some mysterious Metropolis hospital before I can get a chance to interview them.

**FastNFun**: Don't forget the catatonics.

**WeirdWatcher**: Those are the worst of all. Here, but not here at all. So I'm stuck with my Wall of Weird and no definitive proof.

**FastNFun**: Do you like donuts?

**WeirdWatcher**: And it's like, I try to share these theories with my best friends (both of them are guys, grrr!) and they look at me like I'm insane, which just makes me even _more_ paranoid.

**WeirdWatcher**: Do I like _donuts_??

**FastNFun**: Sorry, yeah, donuts. Guys are idiots, present company excluded. If I were there, I'd help you figure this thing out.

**WeirdWatcher**: I do like donuts, btw. You just caught me off guard. I like chocolate frosted with candy sprinkles.

**FastNFun**: No kidding? Those are my favorites! We are obviously MTB.

**WeirdWatcher**: And watch how you offer your services. I might totally take you up on it. MTB? Enlighten me.

**FastNFun**: Never mind about MTB. I can tell it will take a man of mystery to keep your attention. ;)

**WeirdWatcher**: Or to become my obsession. One of those best friends I mentioned? Totally crushing hard on him and he clearly doesn't care.

**FastNFun**: Let me guess. The green rocks left him blind, deaf and dumb, yet tragically appealing?

**WeirdWatcher**: No, he's got all of his senses. And then some. The problem is, they're all focused on one girl, and she's not me.

**WeirdWatcher**: Are you eating donuts?

**FastNFun**: I'm always eating something. You want one? I could run it over there.

**WeirdWatcher**: LOL. Thanks, but I'll just whine at my dad to go into town for some in the morning. Which is like, three hours away. How long have we been talking?!

**FastNFun**: I'm supposed to keep up with time when we're together this way? Time stops when I'm with you. Candy sprinkles leap to their death because they can't compare to your sweetness.

**WeirdWatcher**: You are completely spastic, aren't you?

**FastNFun**: You have no idea. My spastic has recently reached new levels. I am super spastic.

**WeirdWatcher**: Yeah, I picked up on that. Lucky for you, I enjoy that kind of thing. Seriously, you should come to my weird little leafy hamlet, sometime. I could show you around, we could drink a ton of coffee.

**FastNFun**: I don't usually turn down invitations from the ladies, but I'm kinda grounded for the time being. I got into something and my folks are still trying to deal with the aftermath.

**WeirdWatcher**: This is the part where I don't ask what's going on because that would make me a rude busybody, right?

**FastNFun**: Except that you are a weird busy body. ;)

**WeirdWatcher**: You're awfully flirty with the emoticons.

**FastNFun**: I'm flirty as a rule. I've gotta run. Catch you around later?

**WeirdWatcher**: Definitely. My social life consists of this computer and some creative use of a shower massager. ;)

**FastNFun**: I think I just had a moment!! You're COLD to say something like that to a guy when he's trying to get offline.

**WeirdWatcher**: Hey, you're the one who's leaving. :P

**FastNFun**: And bringing a tongue into the emoticon thing is supposed to make me _not_ think bad things, right?

**WeirdWatcher**: You're hopeless, aren't you?

**FastNFun**: I'm a lot of things, but hopeless ain't one of 'em. Catch you around!

**WeirdWatcher**: Bye!!

**FastNFun has signed off 06:42 a.m.**

 

Chloe knocked on Lana's door and poked her head in with a sleepy smile. "Morning. You've got the early shift at the Talon, you told me to wake you up, remember?"

 

Lana stretched and sat up, smoothing a wild lock of hair behind her ear as she blinked away the night and looked at the alarm clock, casting a bemused frown at Chloe. "Yeah, but I didn't exactly expect you to make it out of bed at this hour. Isn't it ridiculously early for you to be awake?"

 

"Some of us never went to bed." Chloe slugged off towards the kitchen to make coffee. "Never get involved with flirty guys online. It can only lead to wicked bags under your eyes."

 

Throwing back the covers, Lana slipped her feet into her bedroom shoes and shuffled after her. "Online flirtation? That's a walk on the wild side."

 

"Actually, it's a walk on the geek side." Chloe yawned and looked back over her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm not actually desperate enough to take this guy seriously." She looked out the window over the sink, watching as Kale Anderson swooshed by on his skateboard, delivering The Daily Planet with a thunk against front doors around the neighborhood. "I'm just like any other girl. Waiting on my very own hero to find me."

 

**

 

Wally zipped into the kitchen, startling Aunt Iris when her newspaper rattled in the whoosh of wind that followed him.

 

"There are rules about using speed in the house, Wally."

 

Casting a bemused look at her, he poured himself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter as he heaped spoonfuls of sugar into the center of his black, shimmering reflection. "There are a lot of rules, Aunt Iris. It's gonna take me a while to learn them all."

 

"And break them all." She smiled and went back to reading the paper. "Breakfast's in the oven and Barry's in the laboratory."

 

"Cool."

 

Nothing ever rattled his Aunt Iris, which was pretty good considering she had two speedsters zipping around her at any given time. Wally's mom had always said it was because Aunt Iris had seen it all as a reporter. Crime scenes, public scandals, the toppling of empires and underhanded schemes exposed--Aunt Iris had told all the major stories in Central City. The exciting life she had led with Uncle Barry made life in Blue Valley seem bland in comparison. Wally had wrangled to spend all his summer vacations at his aunt's house since he'd been hit with the speed force two years ago.

 

Uncle Barry knew what it was like to _be_ a speedster, but Aunt Iris knew how hard it was to live as one. Uncle Barry might have shown him how to use his powers, but Aunt Iris taught him how to live with them. She was funny and smart and let him put all the sugar in his coffee that he wanted. He always came to her for advice, and unlike everyone else who offered it to him unsolicited, Wally usually took her words and wisdom to heart. Uncle Barry said someday, Wally might be lucky enough to find an intrepid reporter who would be able to keep up with him, but Wally kind of had the feeling that Aunt Iris was one of a kind.

 

Like her cinammon rolls. Mmmmm. Cinnamon and sugar and warm, chewy bread. Wally peeled off a layer and dropped his head back to fold it into his mouth. He nearly choked at the question his aunt posed.

 

"So who are you taking to the fall formal this year?"

 

"Muh?" Wally chewed and looked up at her skeptically. Mom must have been talking, again. Swallowing, he chose a flippant answer. "Probably not going. Slow dancing's obviously not my thing."

 

The paper rustled as she turned a page and kept reading. "That's really no excuse for you to avoid girls, Wally. Unless you don't like girls."

 

Wally choked again, bread lodging in his throat in a hard knot, taking a gulp of too hot coffee, he wheezed and pounded a fist against his chest. "That's not it! I like girls!" And he did. He loved the ladies with their pretty hair and sweet smells. He liked the way they wiggled when they walked and the parts that jiggled when they ran. They were soft and sometimes they were so smart and funny that Wally forgot how to talk and wound up saying really sleezy things that just fell off his tongue when he opened his mouth. He liked girls. More than eating, more than sugar, more than running, even. "I just don't think they like me."

 

"Wally West, what on earth makes you think that?" Aunt Iris folded her paper and put it aside, fixing him in her cool gaze. "You're a catch. Good looking, intelligent, you have a wonderful sense of humor."

 

Wally blushed and folded another strip of cinammon roll into his mouth, glancing up to silently encourage the praise with wide green eyes.

 

"And you know that. You're just worried that because of your differences, you won't be accepted." Aunt Iris smiled. "Honey, those other people don't know what you are, they only know who you are. There's a difference, and someday, you'll be able to show some lucky girl both of those things. But for now, you can have a good time just letting someone get to know who Wally West is." She reached across to pat him on the cheek. "Believe me, The Flash is never as intriguing as the man inside the uniform."

 

Aunt Iris was the smartest, savviest lady in the world. If she said it was so, Wally could almost believe it.

 

**

 

Uncle Barry's lab always smelled like chemicals. When Wally had complained as a kid, Uncle Barry had asked him if he wanted to take a trip to the Central City morgue and find out what a police scientist considered a bad smell. Wally had declined because the city morgue was still a little too grown up for his world view.

 

Resting his chin on the lab table, Wally watched bubbles stream up towards the top of a beaker that clicked and shivered with heat atop a bunsen burner. He had mostly shut out his uncle's voice when he turned on the secrets that you have to be careful with platitudes. Somehow this was worlds. . .galaxies. . ._universes_ worse than being grilled about girls by Aunt Iris.

 

". . .or you'll find yourself being eaten by wild jackals while Simba looks on with a feral smile." Barry smirked as he checked a microcope again. "You're not listening to a word of what I'm saying, are you, Wally?"

 

Hearing his name, Wally lifted his head and blinked back to rapt attention. "I'm right on it. Secrets are serious." He nodded encouragingly then stopped, brows inching up when Uncle Barry shook his head. "Secrets are not serious?"

 

"Secrets _are_ serious. The problem, Wally, is that you are _not_." Uncle Barry fixed him in a wearily indulgent smile. "Which is what happens when the Speed Force chooses a teenager, I suppose."

 

"Look, if it's any comfort, I'm on it." Wally straightened up, offering a brash grin. "I'm the Chosen One. I get to run around saving the world and accepting city keys with a smile and handshake, and sometimes I get to kiss a pretty girl who's really grateful." Wally's brows danced. "I think I might do that a little more often than you did, but I'll be sure to remember that modesty breeds admiration."

 

Uncle Barry lifted his head from the microscope, breaking into a wide grin as he chuckled. "The Chosen One?" He pulled off his gloves, noting something on his clipboard with a quick scrawl. "Son, you're not The Slayer."

 

Wally refrained from an eye roll. "Yeah, it was a turn of phrase, okay?"

 

"But it's obviously an idea you've got rattling around in that head of yours." Uncle Barry sat down on a stool across the table and scruffed a hand through his thinning blond hair. "The only thing that chose you was the Speed Force, Wally."

 

"Right, which is a universal power," Wally countered, showing off the fact that he did pay attention until the platitudes broke out.

 

"But not the _only_ universal power." Uncle Barry hesitated, waiting to see if Wally caught on, then explained. "There are others like you."

 

"Speedsters?!" Wally gaped at the idea. No one had told him there were any others like them. Two freakish coincidences in laboratories, two generations linked by one woman they both loved and a shocking bath of fate, but whoa--no one had mentioned Others.

 

"No, not Speedsters." Uncle Barry started to laugh, fixing his fingers in that steeple that always meant he was about to explain something Wally really should be getting on his own. "Heroes, Wally. The world has heroes. Not speedsters, but other people and mutants who protect the population from those who would harm it."

 

"No aliens?"

 

Uncle Barry shook his head. "That's just comic book fodder. No aliens." He hesitated, then amended. "Yet." Maybe being The Flash had made him reluctant to rule anything out.

 

"Suck." Wally slumped down onto the table. "Warrior Angel's pretty cool."

 

"There are warriors out there, but they're much more likely to be walking around looking like you and I than a bald, muscled up alien." Uncle Barry pushed back the stool and crossed over to his desk, unlocking a drawer and sorting through his files until he pulled out one of the thicker ones. Gesturing Wally over, he flipped through pages of newspaper clippings, explaining as he went. "Take the Bat Man in Gotham City. There's nothing remarkable about the man except his uncanny ability to defeat criminals with his intellect and incredibly advanced gadgets."

 

"Gadgets?" Wally quirked a brow, pulling back to cross his arms over his chest. Gadgets were supposed to save the world? When geeks go super, maybe, but _gadgets_? "I'm sure Gotham City feels reeeeeeally safe at night."

 

"Hardly." Uncle Barry shook his head, a frown settling over his features. "Gotham's an old town. Darker and dirtier than anything we've seen in our parts. It's not an easy task, but this fellow's taking it on, one nut job at a time."

 

"With gadgets," Wally murmured then tapped the next aged clipping. "Liberty Belle?" He glanced down at his uncle with a quirked brow. "You're kidding, right?"

 

"Libby retired when I was a kid. She was one hell of a fighting force against the Nazis. Show some respect, son. You're not the first and you won't be the last." Barry paged through clipping after clipping. "Captain Marvel, The Green Lantern, Aquaman," Uncle Barry stopped, smiling fondly at one picture in particular. "Wonder Woman."

 

Wally cut him another skeptical glance at the audible sigh, then grudgingly admitted. "She looks _hot_."

 

"She is. And she's the daughter of an Amazon queen." Uncle Barry grinned up at him. "You'd do well to never call her hot to her face." He closed the folder and tucked it back into the drawer, locking it away again and ignoring Wally's protests. "It doesn't matter who's in this folder, Wally. The important thing is that you realize you're just one of many who love this world." Uncle Barry turned in his chair, standing up to tower over Wally and remind him that he wasn't grown, yet. "Today, we work alone, but the day may come when you have to work with others. Don't let your arrogance undermine your efforts. The world is big enough for all kinds of heroes."

 

Wally felt the itch to run tingle under his skin. He needed time to think, time to process this new universe that had suddenly been tilted on its ear. "I'll keep it in mind." Backing towards the door, he hiked a thumb. "I'm gonna take a run before lunch."

 

"Don't cross state lines. I promised your mother," Uncle Barry chided, already pulling on a new set of gloves as he headed back to his bookish studies.

 

"Gotcha." Wally closed the door on the lab, taking a deep breath. Kansas was just over the river. That didn't count, right?

 

 

**

 

**FastNFun**: You're online? I thought you'd crash early tonight.

**WeirdWatcher**: I caught a nap this afternoon at the movie theatre. What about you?

**FastNFun**: No naps, but I don't really need a lot of sleep. Catalogue that on your Wall of Weird.

**WeirdWatcher**: Sorry, but if you don't live here, you're just a peripheral oddity.

**FastNFun**: I'd love to hear you talk, sometime. You use big words with a snappy delivery. It's like a WB drama.

**WeirdWatcher**: I'm finding out a _frightening_ amount of information about your dubious viewing habits.

**FastNFun**: And yet you keep showing up in my chat box. Careful, I'll think you like me.

**WeirdWatcher**: I'll bet you flirt with inanimate objects, don't you? Right now, you're probably making eyes at the computer monitor.

**FastNFun**: Yeah, and I think she likes me. ;)

**WeirdWatcher**: Again with the _spaz!_

**FastNFun**: I actually spent half my day studying and half the day running around, so to speak. I made a new friend. He didn't seem to think I was a freak, that's always a bonus.

**WeirdWatcher**: I don't think you're a freak.

**FastNFun**: Which is why I'd never register on your interest meter outside this box.

**WeirdWatcher**: Are you fishing for compliments?

**FastNFun**: Babe, I don't need compliments. I need a wicked foxy lady like you in Missouri.

**WeirdWatcher**: The only thing wicked in Missouri is that roller coaster at Six Flags.

**FastNFun**: I _love_ roller coasters. We should hook up sometime and go together.

**WeirdWatcher**: I totally agree! Only right now, I'm investigating these really weird kids who levitate out by the county line. If I can connect them to the meteor strike in 89, I might have my exclusive.

**FastNFun**: And if you can't, just write the story and sell it as a horror novel. *shudders* Floating kids are high on my creep-o-meter scale.

**WeirdWatcher**: I used to have a creep-o-meter scale, but it went away. This town does that to you.

**FastNFun**: I don't get that. How can a meteorite strike cause that kind of freakiness?

**WeirdWatcher**: There are varying levels of freakiness, but most of them tend to have the same ending point.

**FastNFun**: That being…?

**WeirdWatcher**: The basic overview is pretty simple, somebody gets a _little_ too much meteor rock in their diet, and the next thing you know, they're eating newborn babies and stalking Lana.

**FastNFun**: Lana?

**WeirdWatcher**: Did I type that aloud?

**FastNFun**: Yes! Who is Lana?

**WeirdWatcher**: A really nice, really _sad_ friend of mine who happens to be bizarrely linked to an inordinate amount of meteor mutant activity around here. She's also the center of crush-boy's universe. They make eyes at each other and practice synchronized blushing. I'm still trying to figure out if that's meteor related phenomenon.

**FastNFun**: Sounds suspicious.

**WeirdWatcher**: No, it sounds bitter and I should be _so_ over this. It's like being trapped in a really bad storyline, sometimes. You know you should break free, but you just don't.

**FastNFun**: You need a new story. ;)

**WeirdWatcher**: I need a new focus. Do we have donuts tonight?

**FastNFun**: brb

**FastNFun**: We do now.

**WeirdWatcher**: That was fast!

**FastNFun**: I do everything fast.

**WeirdWatcher**: You so did _not_ just type that!

**FastNFun**: What?

**FastNFun**: Ohhhhhhhhh. Hey! Not everything, just _a lot_ of things. You have a one track mind.

**WeirdWatcher**: Lucky for you, you're on that track, tonight. ;)

**FastNFun**: Ahhhhgh, flirty emoticon! I die a happy man with a chocolate smeared smile and visions of candy sprinkles falling from your fingertips.

**WeirdWatcher**: Spazzing to new levels. I need a meter to measure the sheer volume of your spasticity.

**FastNFun**: Snappy words bring me back to life! It's a miracle! Here, pretty lady. Have a donut.

**WeirdWatcher**: This town could use someone like you. No one laughs around here.

**FastNFun**: Good. You'll always need me around to make you smile.

**WeirdWatcher**: Definitely. Oh, hey, did you watch American Idol tonight?

**FastNFun**: Clay rocked!

**WeirdWatcher**: You are insane. Ruben's clearly kicking his ass. _Again._

**FastNFun**: You just picked yourself a fight, lady. Give me back my donut.

**WeirdWatcher**: *sticks out tongue and eats the donut anyway*

**FastNFun**: Not that it matters, anymore. My heart's not in it now that Carmen's gone.

**WeirdWatcher**: Oh, it was your _heart_ that was interested in Carmen?

**FastNFun**: She was hot!

**WeirdWatcher**: Ugh, don't make me choke on my donut. Spaz.

**FastNFun**: Ruben-loving-spaz.

**WeirdWatcher**: That's not an insult.

**FastNFun**: No, an insult would be saying you love a sandwich that sings.

**WeirdWatcher**: Oh, you _so_ stepped in it, mister.

 

**

 

Chloe turned in her chair at the soft tap on her door. Lana peeked in, already dressed in her pajamas and slippers. "Late night again?"

 

"Just signing off." Chloe turned back to the screen and saved the chat box as soon as FastNFun disappeared. "So did you pull an all day shift, again?" Pulling up her web browser, Chloe nibbled her lower lip, then typed in MTB and hit search.

 

"Actually, I spent most of the afternoon with Henry, working on a historical trust for one of the buildings downtown." Lana peeked over her shoulder, a smile warming her face. "So who's meant to be?"

 

Chloe's hand jerked on the mouse and she quickly closed out the browser, a blush stinging her cheeks. "No one. I was just looking up something I'd seen in a chat room online." She pushed her chair back, stepping around Lana to go rooting through the clothes on her floor for her nightshirt. "You know me, I can't stand not being in on the big secrets."

 

"It's a really sweet sentiment," Lana offered, then amended. "Depending on context, of course."

 

"Oh, definitely," Chloe agreed as she exhaled a pent up breath and shook out an oversized t-shirt. "Context is everything." Glancing over at the computer screen, she bit back a smile, finally confessing to Lana. "Okay, so geeks are cute. That doesn't mean I'm not still holding out for my hero, but in the meantime--" The grin broke free as she squeezed her nightshirt to her chest and brushed by Lana. "Donuts and flirty online guys are an excellent distraction."

**Author's Note:**

> Wanna know what happened on Wally's run? Go read LaT's [Rushing Headlong](http://lat.mrks.org/rushing.html). Then go and tell her how much you loved it, all over again. *g*


End file.
